In honor of Veteran’s Day and our recent trip to Texas I present to you the Flag. In general a flag can stand for any number of things. Children even play the game of capture the flag. It can represent a stand for a city, state, country, or even a company. They can be big or small. And when they represent something important to you they can invoke strong feelings.

But as an American our flag can inspire our pride in our country and can be a symbol of hatred to our enemies.

As I spent the weekend with our flag took on even great significance. To see all those young men and women in their uniforms standing at attention was deeply emotional to witness. To stand up with a 100’s of other friends and family’s of the graduating Airman gave me a feeling of being a part of something bigger.

So I will leave you with this moving video of the Retreat. A tribute to our flag following the Coin Ceremony.

As this posts Caleb will be staring his 5th week of Basic Training. He has crossed the half way point toward graduation. And the kids and I are busy making our plans to go out and see him. But one of the neatest things has been the amount of mail we have received from him. So far we have received 18 letters. This was the kid who had a hard time giving me a paragraph. This was the kid who we had to push to complete his English assignments at Summerlin. And now look at the stack of letters I’ve received.

And that ‘s not all we aren’t the only one getting mail from Caleb. He has been spending any free time writing. And we have been doing are best to write back to him as well. Honestly, if you ever know anyone attending basic training for any branch of the military, write them. Write them often. Write them about the ordinary stuff that happens everyday. We are their link to the outside world. They really need to hear from us.

But back to Caleb’s letters. What I love is being able to read through them in order to see the growth. I am able to see his struggles and share his triumphs. I am saving all of the letters so that someday he can read back through them and reflect on his own journey.

I consider him a man when he left and always thought those sound bites about making changing them from boys to men was so much PR. But as I read through his letters, see him reflect on what is happening to him and around him I am see the transformation. He is also taking the time to write a short not to my VPK kids who sent him some pictures. I can’t wait to share the letter with them today.

And maybe the biggest lesson in all of this for me is that letter writing is still important even in this day and age of quick communication. So take the time and write someone today. It will be a blessing to both of you.